Giving up the car

The old rust bucket on my driveway is showing its age. It has served me well for 14 years, especially when I was working. But now the repairs are getting more frequent and more expensive. The car is growing old, and so am I. Never a driving fan, I find my worsening eyesight, slow reflexes and creaky joints now make me very uneasy behind the wheel. So I’m not driving it much, and that makes things even worse for the battery and brakes. The car is becoming a burden. Sometime soon the repair bill will be just too high, and I’ll give it up. But then what?

I’m not a menace on the road yet. I have to make a lifestyle choice, not a public safety one. If I don’t replace the car, how will I manage? I’ll still have lots of options for getting around. I’m lucky to live near shopping, a parking lot with ridesharing cars, a subway station and a GO train station; they’re all just a 15 to 20 minute walk away. There’s Toronto Ride to take me to medical appointments and shopping, or I can do most of my shopping online. If I’m feeling spry, I can haul a grocery cart or backpack down to the store. So it’s not independence I’ll be giving up; it’s spontaneity. Most of those alternatives require planning ahead. Will that matter?

There will be tradeoffs for sure. No more quick trips to Canadian Tire when I run out of ice melter. Things that used to be simple errands, like buying plants and fertilizer for the garden, will now become projects. And as my joints stiffen and my pace slows, what feels like an easy 20-minute walk right now could well turn into a journey to the other side of the moon. I’ll get rid of the burden of the car, but will be taking on new burdens in terms of the time and effort and foresight it will take to look after myself and manage my home.

Making adjustments, accepting new realities: it’s all part of aging. Gotta just roll with it, in the slow lane.